Arsenal's Transition

The problems will never go away whilst the current board and manager are together.

I've said to death on this forum(even if I've posted about 3 times in 6 months) that the issue is that we have absolutely no idea who is to blame for the situation in which we find ourselves.

If it's scenario A in which we don't have much money, Wenger should take less blame than he does. That said, if we didn't have much money this summer, even after the high profile departures, then why are we spending £15m on Oxlade-Chamberlain? I like the player, but he's not what we need right now compared to a high class central midfield player or greater depth at full back. That was an error.

Scenario B is that we actually could spend a lot of money this summer/in January and Wenger chose not to do it, in which case we should be reconsidering his position at the club. Ivan Gazidis said that we were saving some money for January at the end of August, and what did we do? We spent less than a million pounds on a player who won't even play for us this season, undoubtedly.

So someone is lying. We'll be in permanent transition if this is allowed to carry on. The most bizarre element of this entire thing is that whoever is lying is being covered up by whoever isn't, which leaves fans like me completely in the dark about what's going on.

It wasn't that long ago since we won in the San Siro. Milan haven't got hugely better since then, and that shows quite how much we've regressed. Rosicky, who was a minor footnote at the club for such a long time, injury or no injury, is now first team material even though he's got worse in that time. A free-kick goes flying over his head and he doesn't even turn back to see where it's gone. He sums up our plight right now.

We need change - it's clear for all to see at the moment. Whether that's the manager or the board, I don't know, and therein lies all our woe.

The problems will never go away whilst the current board and manager are together.

I've said to death on this forum(even if I've posted about 3 times in 6 months) that the issue is that we have absolutely no idea who is to blame for the situation in which we find ourselves.

If it's scenario A in which we don't have much money, Wenger should take less blame than he does. That said, if we didn't have much money this summer, even after the high profile departures, then why are we spending £15m on Oxlade-Chamberlain? I like the player, but he's not what we need right now compared to a high class central midfield player or greater depth at full back. That was an error.

Scenario B is that we actually could spend a lot of money this summer/in January and Wenger chose not to do it, in which case we should be reconsidering his position at the club. Ivan Gazidis said that we were saving some money for January at the end of August, and what did we do? We spent less than a million pounds on a player who won't even play for us this season, undoubtedly.

So someone is lying. We'll be in permanent transition if this is allowed to carry on. The most bizarre element of this entire thing is that whoever is lying is being covered up by whoever isn't, which leaves fans like me completely in the dark about what's going on.

It wasn't that long ago since we won in the San Siro. Milan haven't got hugely better since then, and that shows quite how much we've regressed. Rosicky, who was a minor footnote at the club for such a long time, injury or no injury, is now first team material even though he's got worse in that time. A free-kick goes flying over his head and he doesn't even turn back to see where it's gone. He sums up our plight right now.

We need change - it's clear for all to see at the moment. Whether that's the manager or the board, I don't know, and therein lies all our woe.

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Do you think Carroll could be a solution? Him being by far the best young striker in the country?

So someone is lying. We'll be in permanent transition if this is allowed to carry on. The most bizarre element of this entire thing is that whoever is lying is being covered up by whoever isn't, which leaves fans like me completely in the dark about what's going on.

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There is no middleman. Where as Wenger had David Dein then, who had a good relationship with the fans and could make deals happen, now it's disjointed.

If it's scenario A in which we don't have much money, Wenger should take less blame than he does. That said, if we didn't have much money this summer, even after the high profile departures, then why are we spending £15m on Oxlade-Chamberlain? I like the player, but he's not what we need right now compared to a high class central midfield player or greater depth at full back. That was an error.

Read Gazidis' lips: It (our model) does mean we can't afford to compete with oil money, and we can't afford to compete with super-wealthy individuals from Russia," he told Fox. But I think the more important thing about our model is that it's
sustainable.

The Ox was a masterstroke for Wenger getting a £30M player for halfprice.
Where do you think you're going to get a high-class CM for £15M (or even £30M)? Tell Ferguson and he'll be on the case. We had 4 fullbacks injured at once

So someone is lying. We'll be in permanent transition if this is allowed to carry on. The most bizarre element of this entire thing is that whoever is lying is being covered up by whoever isn't, which leaves fans like me completely in the dark about what's going on.
No one's lying you're just not listening (and don't seem to understand about the wage bill being more important than transfer fees).

It wasn't that long ago since we won in the San Siro. Milan haven't got hugely better since then, and that shows quite how much we've regressed.

Milan and indeed all Italian teams are a lot better than four years ago when they had a conditioning gap with the PL that mean they couldn't compete physically. That's been bridged.

A free-kick goes flying over his head and he doesn't even turn back to see where it's gone. He sums up our plight right now.

That's just ridiculous - he knew exactly where it went. No point in looking at a car crash after the event

We need change - it's clear for all to see at the moment. Whether that's the manager or the board, I don't know, and therein lies all our woe.

Yeah, they start to remond me of another Northern team about ten years ago.... period of domination over ....... no real challenge for main prizes ..... treat games against rivals "make or break the season" .... talk of transition. Next it'll be a five year plan.

The problems will never go away whilst the current board and manager are together.

I've said to death on this forum(even if I've posted about 3 times in 6 months) that the issue is that we have absolutely no idea who is to blame for the situation in which we find ourselves.

If it's scenario A in which we don't have much money, Wenger should take less blame than he does. That said, if we didn't have much money this summer, even after the high profile departures, then why are we spending £15m on Oxlade-Chamberlain? I like the player, but he's not what we need right now compared to a high class central midfield player or greater depth at full back. That was an error.

Scenario B is that we actually could spend a lot of money this summer/in January and Wenger chose not to do it, in which case we should be reconsidering his position at the club. Ivan Gazidis said that we were saving some money for January at the end of August, and what did we do? We spent less than a million pounds on a player who won't even play for us this season, undoubtedly.

So someone is lying. We'll be in permanent transition if this is allowed to carry on. The most bizarre element of this entire thing is that whoever is lying is being covered up by whoever isn't, which leaves fans like me completely in the dark about what's going on.

It wasn't that long ago since we won in the San Siro. Milan haven't got hugely better since then, and that shows quite how much we've regressed. Rosicky, who was a minor footnote at the club for such a long time, injury or no injury, is now first team material even though he's got worse in that time. A free-kick goes flying over his head and he doesn't even turn back to see where it's gone. He sums up our plight right now.

We need change - it's clear for all to see at the moment. Whether that's the manager or the board, I don't know, and therein lies all our woe.

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I think that is just about the perfect analysis of your situation as we know it.

I also think it's a very good point about it being Scenario A or Scenario B, which I also made a short while back and I think you replied to saying you have been saying it for ages IIRC. The point you make about not knowing whether it is A and B is a good one because it's clear that both Wenger and the Board are happy working together and not revealing the true reason for it and that's either a big problem as it's keeping fans in the dark or it's actually holding the club together. Who knows?

I was never a fan of Mertesacker as the caf knows but we needed experienced cover and Cahill and Bolton were playing silly buggers. Santos we'll have to see.

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It struck me as a bit of a rehash of the Squillaci signing, albeit Mertesacker's a better player than him. He just doesn't look like your sort of centre half. Then again, where can you find a decent, proven centre half with pace, let alone for the sort of money Arsenal want to pay?

I think Wenger really thought he could hang on to one or both. Cahill was a no-go at £15M and ridiculous wage demands, Samba's better than Mertesacker but not the answer. Smalling we got outbid by ManU and Jones didn't want to come south.

Clearly, match day receipts are double those of Highbury - it's more the banks conditions attaching to the loan which we cannot know and which may well prevent investment in players because of the need to pay down debt

Even money - had a bit odds on before the season and balanced it up later. They never went longer than 5/1 on betfair.

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you want to get down to your local turf accountant - not many around nowadays but there is one near me and you can even negotiate sometimes. Mine's a Hammer who hates your lot and was convinced you had no chance

As Pete has already said, Arsenal are being left behind because of wage inflation. They are no longer able to compete at the top level. The mid-table beckons in the medium term.

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We've punched above our weight and intend to keep doing so. It is a bit crazy that we're suddenly 'in crisis' because we are probably out of the CL to a big beast in the KO stage when you didn't make it out of group being fannied by Basel.

We've punched above our weight and intend to keep doing so. It is a bit crazy that we're suddenly 'in crisis' because we are probably out of the CL to a big beast in the KO stage when you didn't make it out of group being fannied by Basel.

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We're in contention for the league though and it spares us some embarrassment for going out early in the CL. Also, we've beaten you comfortably twice in the league and have generally been much better than you all along.

To be honest I think Arsenal have stopped punching above their weight a long time ago. They've unfortunately been undone by the fact that other teams in the league such as City and Spurs have surpassed them.